Swiss Army Knife LeadersHow smaller employers will cope with the extra demands of auto enrolment A report by Cebr commissioned by Creative Auto Enrolment March 2015

MethodologyThe findings in this report are calculated by Cebr and are based on the results of a bespoke survey of a sample of 512 UK business leaders in companies with 1-58 employees commissioned by Creative Auto Enrolment and conducted by Opinium Research between 6 and 16 February 2015. Data from the Office for National Statistics, Eurostat and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have also been utilised as part of the calculations.

Source: The Pensions Regulator This report examines the ways smaller employers address their competing priorities and the likely impact that auto enrolment will have on them and their businesses. It is clear that it is essential for the health of the UK economy and the success of auto enrolment that these business leaders and their advisers seek out solutions that minimise the burden of compliance.

Figure 1: Number of companies staging in each quarter

Source: Cebr analysis, Opinium survey

Figure 2: Breakdown of average business leader’s working week

Source: Cebr analysis, Opinium survey

Figure 3: Hours in typical business leader’s week devoted to each category of task

Source: Cebr analysis, Office for National Statistics, Opinium survey *Gross Value Added is a measure of economic output and is roughly equivalent to the sum of business profits, employee compensation and taxes on production (eg corporation tax).

Figure 4: Contribution of a business leader’s tasks to the Gross Value Added* of a typical small business

Figure 5: How business leaders feel about having to handle auto enrolment

Q1. How many hours do you work each week? Including time spent at the weekends and in the evenings (thinking as well as doing this time).

Q2. Thinking about an average day at work, how many actions/jobs do you tend to have on your to-do-list?

Q3. Thinking about the last month in your business, how much time did you spend on these tasks and how much time would you like to have spent?

Q4. In an ideal world, which of the following tasks can only you as the business leader do, and which would you like to delegate to other colleagues?

Q5. Which of the following tasks, if any, have the biggest impact in terms of helping your business develop and grow?

Q6. Do you feel you spend enough time on developing / growing your business?

Q7. What, if anything, gets in the way of you spending time on your more important tasks?

Q8. All companies have to now comply with auto enrolment legislation and provide workplace pensions for their eligible employees. In terms of implementing this in your business, how would you categorise the task?

Q9. Which of the following best describes how you feel about having to implement auto enrolment?

Q10. Do you feel that there is enough support available for small businesses to handle auto enrolment?

Base: 142 say there is not enough support

Q11. Why do you feel there isn’t enough support for small businesses to handle auto enrolment?